Patrolling the Nation: The Incorporation of Immigration Control in Neoliberal America

This dissertation examines the growing civilian participation in immigration control in post-9/11 America. Across the country, anti-illegal immigrant ordinances enlist civilians in various forms of immigration control as do programs designed by civil society organizations and private corporations in collaboration with law enforcement agencies. Through such programs and initiatives, civilians are incorporated into the immigration control regime, and immigration control in turn is becoming part of everyday life for an increasing number of Americans. The dissertation's analysis of this historically particular development is informed by political economy, critical race studies, and theories of governmentality. Combining textual analysis with the radically contextualist method distinctive of cultural studies, the dissertation offers three case studies as well as chapters that historicize the new trend and situate it in the larger ideological landscape of the contemporary United States. The overarching argument of the dissertation is that the incorporation of immigration control is a feature of the neoliberalization of social relations. Specifically, I make the case that the incorporation of immigration control weaves racialized exclusion (from rights, privileges, and protections) into the social fabric, in effect normalizing and legitimizing such exclusion from democratic society. My analysis demonstrates that contrary to the "common sense" claims about the need to respond to an "immigration crisis," the new politics of exclusion has roots in the culture of control and white reaction to civil rights. I further argue that civilian participation in immigration control serves not only to control immigrant populations but also to discipline the citizenry for the emerging political economy of homeland security.